Joseph Smith soothsayer?

Question

Joseph Smith claimed to be a "prophet." He frequently prophesied future events "by the power of God." Many of these prophecies are recorded in the LDS scripture Doctrine and Covenants. Almost none have been fulfilled, and many cannot now be fulfilled because the deeds to be done by the persons named were never done and those persons are now dead. Many prophecies included dates for their fulfillment, and those dates are now long past, the events never having occurred.

Answer 1

Joseph Smith was a charlatan, a cheat and a criminal. To call him a prophet is an insult to the word.

Answer 2

Many critics of the Church allege that Joseph Smith never made a true prophecy and that he failed the test of a real prophet. The allegedly false prophecies that they offer are typically based on questionable sources or are distortions of the truth.Did Joseph Smith make any true prophecies? Yes! Indeed, the record is impressive and cannot be explained away as lucky guesses. However, the most important evidence for Joseph's divine calling as a prophet of Christ is the Book of Mormon, which is why I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

For those who have seen allegedly false prophecies of Joseph Smith, keep in mind that most of the statements used to condemn Joseph Smith were written down by someone else and are subject to inaccuracy. Many alleged false prophecies are just hearsay, and many were never intended as a prophetic statement. If Joseph says, "Gray clouds - looks like rain," and it didn't rain that day, anti-Mormons may howl but Latter-day Saints know that the gift of prophecy does not make every utterance divinely inspired. As Latter-day Saints, we only need to be bound by what has been canonized, not by every alleged saying or even every actual writing of Church leaders. Very few alleged false prophecies are from canonized writings. So if 50 years after Joseph was killed, somebody writes that they remember him talking about men living on the moon, and no one else can verify that claim, it's nothing to be bothered by. And even if Joseph did speculate on something that silly while sitting around a campfire one night, as a mortal he's entitled to silly opinions. It's unreasonable to hold him to a standard higher than the prophets of the Bible could meet.

For a detailed list of Joseph Smith prophecies that were fulfilled, visit: http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/people/joseph_smith/prophesies.html

Answer 3

I had a mormon missionary explain that God's revelation ended with the death of the last apostle of Jesus. And then Joseph Smith was the next link in God's plan.
In other words, it is a huge departure from what most Christians consider to be church history beginning with the apostles receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
In this scheme the church failed for over 1800 years until it was revived by Smith.
Its not only the future prophesies that I find problematic.

Answer 4

Matthew 16:3...
In the morning when the sky is red and lowering you say it will be foul weather....you can discern the face of the sky; but can you not discern the signs of the times?

In the New Testament Jesus Christ warned, that in the last days false Christs(false christians) and false prophets (preachers) would arise and show great signs and wonders....so much so, that if it were possible they would deceive the very elect. (Matthew 24;24):

False teaching is a mixture of truth and error. So, people may at the same time be encouraged and nourished by some things that are true but unknowingly accept error along with it. Unfortunately, sometimes even a small amount of error may be dangerous. (Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 1Corinthians 5;v6)
These false preachers preach titles like,"How to Write Your Own Ticket with God"; "God's Formula for Success and Prosperity"; "God's Creative Power Will Work for You"...........
In this false religion the believer uses God, whereas the truth of biblical Christianity is just the opposite: God uses the believer through the Holy Spirit to accomplish HIS WILL.

A lot of the false preachers of today believe that the human mind and tongue contain a supernatural ability or power. So much so that when a person speaks expressing his faith in divine laws, his positive thoughts and positive verbal expression allegedly produce a "divine force" that will heal, produce wealth, bring success, and in other ways influence the environment. So, why pray at all if words have so much creative force? Faith, according to the false prophets, is not submissive trust in God; Their faith is a "formula" by which to manipulate the spiritual laws which they believe govern the universe.

They turn faith into a magical formula and words into some kind of abracadabra by which one may "get things from God". (Jude 4 .....who turn the grace of our Lord into lasciviousness ­a strong desire for material things.) But the teaching from this faith serves only to justify their own lavish lifetyles and materialistic philosophies, while breeding a superstition that their words, when spoken positively, will determine their fate.

Answer 5

in the bible it speaks about false prophets.
in the end times, which we're in now. the bible states that there will be a lot of false prophets claiming to know god & be christians.
satan will use & is using these people to confuse them re: christ, becoming a christian, knowing jesus christ *& god.
this is what's going on here.
the evens never have occurred b/cuz the 1 true god, hasn't allowed it to happen. if god wanted it to happen, these events would have happened.
only god has the say so on what happens here on earth. how, when, why: god's decision only.

Answer 6

BYUTV - Brigham Young University Television runs stories of Joseph Smith.

Answer 7

What are you afraid of coward? Why do you lie about things you don't even know? You do the work of Satan and think you are free. Yet you are a cowardly prisoner, held captive because of your own fears. You mock GOD and CHRIST in the name of understanding and yet all you understand is what is dictated to you by Satan. You are a coward not man enough to choose freedom.

Answer 8

Actually he didn't make too many prophesies, and a lot of the ones he did make have come true, and the others will.

Answer 9

You're right. But you are either just (a) trying to get Yahoo! points or (b) trying to start a fight. Why else? See the above to observe that you have flushed out the nuts (i.e., lunatics).

Answer 10

So what's your point exactly? Are you just trying to discredit the Mormons or what?